Would You Rather?

We believe that no woman seeking asylum should have to tell her story:

To a male interpreter or interviewer if she is not comfortable with this

“My brain, when I was facing a young man, it was not connecting properly to my mouth, I couldn’t explain myself clearly. My culture is from the Middle East, I think it made me uncomfortable trying to explain myself. He wasn’t good for me to speak to.”

-Zara, Iraq

Disclosing experience of gender-based persecution is difficult and women asylum applicants are more likely to disclose to another woman. The Home Office ask all asylum applicants at screening whether they would prefer a male or female interviewer and provide for this in most cases. However very few women state a preference.

Women refugees report that women are unlikely to state a preference as they don’t want to seem demanding and are not used to being given such choices.

The Protection Gap campaign is asking that:

All female applicants be automatically allocated a female interviewer and interpreter (unless they specify otherwise).

If there is no female interviewer/interpreter available, the asylum applicant be given the choice of going ahead with a male, or waiting for a female.